'veggies don't eat fish' friend fall out

[mrsfuzzy]

i'm a veggie i eat dairy produce, but no fish and meat nor have i done since i was a young child, i met a new friend three months ago and she asked about becoming a veggie which she was proud to tell everyone about but she still eats fish, i said that veggies didn't eat fish and that shell fish etc are 'banned' by the veggie society. i like her but she's got a bee in her bonnet and refuses to speak to me, we didn't argue about it about it at the time, i don't understand.

[hettienne]

I do find vegetarians like the OP who claim not to eat meat/fish due to cruelty/ethical issues, but then happily guzzle cheese, the oddest. Because the dairy industry is cruelty free and millions of animals don't die every year

[Flatiron]

Oh, I already knew the meaning of the word vegetarian. But you're right , I have learned something on this thread, so

[TarkaTheOtter]

Wow, did not realise some people get so angry about this. Had a bit of sympathy when people were talking about being served fish as a vegetarian option etc before people started being arses about it. Think I'll just carry on calling myself a vegetarian (as I mostly eat a vegetarian diet) and it works for me.

[ChiefToiletRollChanger]

Flatiron - you may have called yourself a vegetarian for 40 years however saying you eat fish obviously negates that and causes people who are actually vegetarians quite a lot of problems trying to explain what vegetarianism is.

You are not a vegetarian.

[TheBigJessie]

I am of the opinion that the modern western conventional dairy industry is cruel.

However, I wouldn't agree that all forms of dairy farming are equally cruel, and I would point out that milk-consuming vegetarians aren't necessarily a soft, easy target. You're criticising religious vegetarians here. If you're an equal opportunity critic of faith, that's fine. If, on the other hand, you wouldn't dream of criticising some of the more, erm vocal religions, that's not fine.

Anyway, people have apparently been consuming milk while venerating cows as holy animals in India for five thousand years. I'm not sure how this works in practical detail, but presumably with less cruelty than ours.

[fascicle]

TarkaTheOtter
Think I'll just carry on calling myself a vegetarian (as I mostly eat a vegetarian diet) and it works for me.

I guess the question is - would you eat fish (or whatever you eat that's not vegetarian) at a friend's house or restaurant, whilst labelling yourself a vegetarian? If so, your strategy might work for you but won't contribute towards other people's understanding of vegetarianism.

[TarkaTheOtter]

fascicle I deliberately call myself a vegetarian when eating at other's houses because I don't want to eat fish or meat. On the rare occasions when I do I explain that it is an aberration from my general vegetarian diet. I've never met anyone who has had a problem understanding it (but then I've never met anyone who would expect a vegetarian to eat fish either - maybe my friends/family are particularly enlightened).

[TarkaTheOtter]

Not really sure why I should be bothered about contributing to anyone's understanding of vegetarianism anyway though.

[Flatiron]

What I don't understand is how someone who, albeit misguidedly, calls themselves a vegetarian, but eats fish, is any more of a problem to 'actual' vegetarians, than a lacto- or ovo-vegetarian is to a 'strict' vegetarian who consumes neither milk nor eggs.
I would say the likelihood of a strict vegetarian being given dairy or eggs is far greater than any vegetarians being offered fish. In my experience, the assumption is that vegetarians don't eat fish, but do eat, for example, omelettes, which was the default vegetarian option 40 years ago, when I was an actual vegetarian.

[ChiefToiletRollChanger]

Flatiron, you are Xenia in disguise aren't you.

[nicename]

I find that some git always decides that they actually really are vegetarian halfway through a long haul flight (and sees what the meat option is). I've had my meal nicked so many times!

[AnaisHendricks]

nicename that would piss me right off.

I once made a packed lunch for me and a meat-eating friend. She whinged so much that she fancied my cheese and pickle more than the ham and cheese I'd made for her that I ended up letting her have it!

[ChiefToiletRollChanger]

Nicename - how can that happen? My meals always come out with my name on them and to my seat.

[nicename]

Because the bastard sits at the front in posher class and schmoozes the steward/ess!

Granted its been a while since it last happened. Last time all they had left was some sort of grey meat - I think - in brown slop, or crackers and mustard.

[Flatiron]

I have no idea who Xenia is/was, so I'm afraid I can't respond appropriately, though I suspect it's not meant as a flattering comparison!

[AnaisHendricks]

Xenia is the least likely of posters to choose a domestic appliance as her username. I can't see any reason for that comparison.

[TheBigJessie]

Xenia's written diction is very distinctive; I've spotted her comments on other sites.

I find flatiron not guilty of being Xenia!

[MistressIggi]

Lazeyjaney, eggs don't become chickens just like that you know.
I flush eggs down the toilet every month (I assume) they wouldn't turn into babies without help. Eating something that has to die for you to consume it is obviously of a different category to something that does not cause death.
Then you start to measure suffering and it all becomes more complicated... But I find death is a firm line for me to draw.

I count myself as a strict vegetarian but am not vegan - haven't heard before that being lacto-ovo meant you weren't strict?

[Flatiron]

I'm fairly unlikely to choose a domestic appliance as my username, tbh, Anais! It references the Flatiron Building in New York City, a picture of which I happened to have in front of me when I chose the name.

This comparison with Xenia is intriguing! Is she a vegetarian?

[AnaisHendricks]

Sorry for mis-understanding your name

She might well be. She's always going on about only drinking tap water. Now I'm pretty restricted in my diet and usually drink water but I can make an exception for tea or wine

[TheBigJessie]

Xenia is open to a fault about her moral and political beliefs- if she was any form of veg*n, she'd have said so openly and criticised the rest of you.

[HorryIsUpduffed]

Presumably cow-venerating religious vegetarians don't euthanise male calves at birth? and wait until the cow conceives naturally rather than strapping her into a frame to be impregnated by the hired bull?

[TheBigJessie]

One would presume not, Horry.

[HorryIsUpduffed]

There you go then: those are the main objections to dairy farming, gender selection and biologically extremely small gaps between pregnancies.

Leaving calves of both sexes to self-wean, and helping oneself to the odd pint in the meantime, is fairly respectful really.

[TheBigJessie]

Horry! Did you not get the memo? Lacto-vegetarians (it's been 15 years since I read any Hindu holy texts in translation, but I think eggs are verboten) are always hypocrites! It doesn't matter what their reasons for a vegetarian diet are, they're hypocrites- the interwebs says so!

It was the memo after, "if you can't be perfect, there's no damn point bothering having any ethical scruples, so have some veal" I think.